Chancellor's Check-Up: Botox, Not Just for Wrinkles

Ophthalmologists and neurologists originally used Botulinum Toxin or Botox as a remedy to treat certain pains. Dr. Miles Day of the International Pain Institute says Botox relieves pain.

He says that if anybody has ever had a muscle spasm, trigger point or knot in their upper back or low back, it can be quite painful. Before Botox was used to treat pain, doctors would inject patients with steroids, which would only provide relief for a week or at the most, a month.

Dr. Day adds that to provide prolonged pain relief they inject the Botox into the muscle, which just partially paralyzes the muscle to relax it. It doesn't relax to the point where you can't move the extremity or you get a lot of weakness, it's just enough where you get muscle relaxation and pain relief. Botox treatments typically provide relief for patients for up to three months, but in some cases patients are free from pain for up to six months.

Recent medical research has shown dramatic results with the use of Botox in patients with migraine headaches. If you suffer from severe pain, you might want to ask your doctor about Botox treatments because some insurance companies may cover Botox when it's used as treatment for a painful medical condition.